Climate and the distribution of cooperative breeding in mammals
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Publication Date
2017-01-18Journal Title
Royal Society Open Science
ISSN
2054-5703
Publisher
Royal Society Publishing
Volume
4
Number
160897
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
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Lukas, D., & Clutton-Brock, T. (2017). Climate and the distribution of cooperative breeding in mammals. Royal Society Open Science, 4 (160897) https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160897
Abstract
Cooperative breeding systems, in which non-breeding individuals provide care for the offspring of dominant group members, occur in less than 1% of mammals and are associated with social monogamy and the production of multiple offspring per birth (polytocy). Here, we show that the distribution of alloparental care by non-breeding subordinates is associated with habitats where annual rainfall is low. A possible reason for this association is that the females of species found in arid environments are usually polytocous and this may have facilitated the evolution of alloparental care.
Keywords
cooperative breeding, rainfall, sociality, phylogenetic comparison
Sponsorship
This project was funded by the European Research Commission (grant no. 294494-THCB2011).
Funder references
European Research Council (294494)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160897
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/262939
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International
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